Seat construction



1 1943- A. BENZICK ET AL 2,3

SEAT CONSTRUCTION Filed March 28, 1940 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTORS,

ALEXANDER fiENZ/CK HERMAN C. RUSCH.

ATTORNEY.

y 1943- A. BENZICK ET AL 2,324,902

SEAT CONSTRUCTION Filed March 28, 1940 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORS.ALExA/vDzTR BENZ/CK HERMAN C RUSCH Patented July 20, .1943

umT o fsTA Es PA T OFFICE Alexander Benzick and Herman C. Rusch, Milwaukee, Wis assi'gnors' to Nash-Kelvinator Corporation, Kenosha, Wis., acorporation of Maryland I Application-March 28,1940, Serial No.- 326,438

3Claims. (01. 155

This invention relates ,to automobile seat con struction and hasparticular reference to the seat occupied by the driver of anautomobile.

It is an object of this invention. to provide a drivers seat which maybefolded back to form a portion of, a bed.

It is another object-of this invention to provide a drivers seat for anautomobile which may be positively locked in-driving position andunlocked to fold the-seat backward toform a por- V tion of a bed.

It is another object of this invention to'provide a drivers seat of anautomobile whichmay be tipped forward toprovide entrance space as in atwo door four passengerautomobile and at the same time is arranged to betipped backwardly to form a portion of a bed.

Other objects and advantages of thisinvention will be apparent from aconsiderationof the following specificationand the attached draw.- ingsof whichthereare. two sheets and inwhich iFigure .1 represents a front;elevation of the front seat of an automobile; a

Figure 2. representsan endelevation of, the seat illustrated in Figure 1with the upholstery removed; r 1 Figure 3 represents a section takenalong the line 3.3 of-Figure l with-the upholstery removed. and showingthe framework in rotated positiom, v .2

Figure 4 represents .a broken section taken application mentioned abovea front seat con-' struction for an automobile which is'readily ad-.justable .to form abed within anautomobile. This construction is highlydesirable particularly to campers and persons making long trips who donot desire to spend'thetime'or money to stop at hotels. I I I 1Illustrated in Figure. l is a front. seat of an automobile having acushion 26, the left hand or drivers seat back portionq22, and a righthand or passenger seat back portion 24. The entire seat is supportedupon a basemember 26 which may be fasteneddi-rectly to the fiOOXgOf theautomobile or may; form a portion of a slidingcarriage for moving theentire seat backward, and forward within the automobile as is commonlydonein present day cars. We have 7 shown the base-memberifi to be aframe chanalong the. line- 4f4 of Figure 1 with theupi holstery removed;

Figure 5 represents a section taken along. the line 55 of Figure 2 andlooking in the .direction ofthe arrows;.

Figure fi'represents a partial rear elevation of a robe rail for use inconnection with our -invenjtion;. Figure 7 represents-a.plan view of therobe rail shown in Figure 6; p '1 v Figure '8 represents a sectionalview taken along a plane indicated by. the mes in Fi ure 5 and lookinginthefdirection of the an rows; and v 1 a Figure 9repr'esen'ts a'sectional view'taken I along a plane indicated by the line 9'9 in Figure5 and-looking in the direction of the arrows.

The driversqseat illustrated is arranged to be combined-with andtocooperate with a right hand or passenger seat such as is described andclaimed in our copending application, Serial No. 307,737, filed December.6, 1939;. which became Patent No. 2,256,784on-June 16,-1942. We haveprovided-in this invention and our copending nel shaped in crosssectiomwhich conforms generally to,the outline of the seat. I

The ;main frame portions of our. seat construction, which provide thefollowing characteristics of the seat and support the springsandupholstery, consist of a lower- -side hinge leaf 28 and an upperhinge leaf 300m the left hand side of the seat, anda lower hin ge leaf'32 and an upper hinge leaf 34 on the right hand side of the 7 Theconnectionsof the Various members on theleft hand, sideofthe seat areillustrated most clearly in Figures 2, .4 and 5 and are as follows:

The lower hinge leaf 23 isfastened tothe base member 26 by means of-apivot pin 36. We have shown the connection to be. made to. a lug 38 7which is formed by bending a portion of the'top flange of the channelmember-v26 to ;a vertical position. The lower jhinge leaf 28 is angleshaped incross section and curved to conform to the outline of the seatcushion. The point for connecting. the lower hinge leaf with the pivot36 is provided by deforming the vertical side of the angle member as isshown most clearly at 40 inFigure fl. Towardsits rear: end the lowerhinge leaf 28 is providedwithan upstanding por-. tion 42 which isbent inalong the back of the seat; at 44 and then bent backwardly to form thepvertical; plate 46. Attachedto the inner surface of the plate 45 vbysuitable means such as welding is the generally triangularly shapedplate 48. The widest. portionof the plate 48 extends forwardly of theplate- Hand is provided 'with a fixed pin 50 at its upper front cornerfor a purpose which will be described later. The

upper hinge leaf 3|] on the left handside of .the 1 seat is providedwith aflanged back member 52 and a segment shaped plate 54 at the lowerend of the back portion 52. The segment shaped portion 54 is provided atits upper rear portion with a hole 56 and an arcuate slot 58 which isformed on a radius around the hole 56. The upper rear portion of theplates 46 and 48 are drilled to receive a shaft 60 which passes throughthese plates and through the hole 56 in the upper hinge leaf. The pin 50in the plate 48 is arranged to slide in the slot 58 in the upper hingeleaf. It is thus seen. that the upper hinge leaf 30 may rotate about theshaft in a vertical plane within the limits defined by the slot 58. Theslot 58 is formed through an arc of approximately 90. This allows theback portion of the seat to be lowered to a horizontal position orraised to a vertical driving position.

The right hand side of the drivers seat is supported as follows: In thecenter of the front seat 29 I have provided a channel member'the leftside of which is shown at 62 and which is supported upon the main basemember .26. The member 2 may form a part of the general base structureof the seat or may be fastened thereon after the base has beenconstructed. The channo] 62 has a bottom flange 04 and side verticalflanges one of which is shown at 66 from the top of which is bent outthe horizontal strengthening flange 88. A portion of .the horizontalflange 58 is bent up at to form a lug to which the lower hinge leaf 32is fastened by means of the pivot pin 12. The lower hinge leaf 8! isarranged to rest on the horizontal surface 64 of the base 8! when theseat is in normal position. The lower hinge leaf 32 is bent up at" andthe plate I8 is fastened to the top of the bent up portion by suitablemeans such as welding. The plate N extends forwardly of the bent upportion ll and is bent in towards the center of. the seat at 18 andcontinued along the plane of the lower hinge member 3!. The forwardportion of the plate I! is provided with pin 80 which performs the somefunction as the pin 50 on the left hand side of the seat. The upper rearportion 14 of the lower hinge member and the plate 1 are drilled toreceive the right hand end of'the shaft OI.

The right hand upper hinge leaf 34 is just the reverse of the left handupper hinge leaf, having a back portion 82 and a lower segment shapedportion 8! in which is out the arcuate groove 66 one radius about thepoint where the shaft 00 passes through the upper hinge leaf.

In order to maintain the back portion 22 of the seat in a verticalposition when it is desired to have the seat function as a. drivingseat, we have provided the inturnecl lugs 88 at the lower end of eachupper hinge leaf. The lug 08 on the left hand hinge leaf is arranged toengage the back of a bracket 90 fastened to the base member 26. The lug88 on the right hand hinge leaf is arranged to engage the back'of his 92formed on the upstanding portion 94 of the channel member 02. Thus whenthe lower hinge leaves 28 and 82 are held in their lowered posi tion asthey will be when the driver isv seated in the driving seat, the lugs88, on the upper hinge leaves are engaged behind the fixed portions ofthe base as just described, and it is impossible for any amount ofpressure on the back cushion and upper hinge leaves to swing the backcushion 2-2 in a backward direction. When it is desired to lower theback cushion 22, it is only necessary to raise the entire seat includingthe lower hinge members 28 and32 until the lugs 88 have cleared thebracket "and the lug 92 on the base. At

this time the back cushion and the upper hinge leaves 30 and 34 may berotated about the shaft 60, and the lower hinge leaves may be allowed toreturn to their normal position.

We wish to point out that in the structure just described, the entiredrivers seat may be tipped forward about the pivots 3G and 12 to makeroom for persons to enter the back seat of a two door automobile. Whenthe pins 50 and have reached the upper end of the slots 58 and 86, therecan be no further forward rotation of the upper hinge leaves relative tothe lower hinge leaves. Therefore, any force supplied to the backcushion '22 will raise the entire seat as just described. When the seatback cushion 22 is folded into its horizontal position, its back edgewill be supported from the floor of the automobile by means of the roberail 96 which is pivoted in the brackets 98, screwed to the back of theback cushion 22. The robe rail 96 may be bent down at each end as at I00to form legs for supporting the back cushion at the proper level.

The structure just described functions as the main supporting frame forthe seat. The springs and upholstery may be made up in any ordinarymanner known to the upholsterers art today and fitted to the structurehere disclosed. The seat cushion may rest on the base and the lower-hinge leaves while theback cushion will be fastened to the upper hingeleaves. If desired, the upper hinge leaves may be made directly as apart of the seat back'cushion. 1

While we have described our invention in some detail, we intend thisdescription to bean example only and not limiting our invention to whichwe make the following claims.

- We claim:

1. An automobile seat construction comprising a base member having a lugthereon,-a lower hinge leaf arranged to conform to a portion of theoutline of said seat and pivoted at its forward end to said lug, a planeportion carried at therear of said lower hinge leaf and normal to theaxis of said pivot, an upper hinge leaf pivotedto the plane portion ofsaid lower hinge leaf; a plate portion on said upper hinge leaf definingan areuate slot, a pin carried by said plane portion of said lower hingeleaf and riding in said arcuate slot, a lug carried on the lower end ofsaid 'upper'hinge leaf, and means fastened to said base for enga ing thelug on said upper hinge leaf when said lower hinge leaf is in positionfor said seat to be occupied.

2. Seat construction comprising a base member, a lower hinge leafarranged to conform to a portionof the outline of said seat and pivotedat its forward end to said base member and arranged to rest thereon whenin normal position, a seat cushion supported on said lower, hinge leaf,a plane portion carried at the rear of said lower hinge leaf and normalto the axis of said pivot, on upper hinge leaf pivoted on the planevportion of said lower hingeleaf, a plate portion formed on said upperhinge 'mfand positioned against said plane portion of said lower hingeleaf, means wnnecting said plane portion of said lower hinge leaf andsaid plate portion of said upper hinge leaf comprising a pin slidable ina slot for limiting the are through which said upper hinge leaf willrotate with respect to said lower hinge leaf, a fixed abutment on saidbase, a flange on said upper hinge engageable with said abutment whensaid upper hinge is at the forward limit of its rotation and when saidlower hinge is resting on said base.

and defining an arouate slot, means on said lower hinge leaf engageablewith said arcuate slot for 10 entioned pivot.

limiting, the rotation of said upper hinge leaf about said second pivotand means on said base engageable with the flange on said upper hingeleaf when said upper hinge leaf is at one limit of its rotation aboutsaid second pivot for preventing rotation of said upper hinge leaf aboutsaid second mentioned pivot, said last mentioned means beingrenderedinoperative by rotating said lower hinge leaf forward about said firstALEXANDER BENZICK. HERMAN 0. Bosch.

